Cavs in the kitchen

Expressing their love for the kitchen, students and teachers use the culinary arts to build their own businesses

BY EMILYS GIL AND DANI PARRA DEL RIEGO, STAFF WRITERS

Behind the scenes of picture-worthy food menus are often chefs with stained aprons and first-degree burns that dedicate their time to share their craft with the world.

The kitchen is a place of cultivation, as individuals can express their creativity through a variety of different eats. With endless ingredient and spice options, cooking has become the refuge of many seeking to build their skills and test their latest cuisine concepts.

Hoping to spark a change in the culinary world, some chefs see their roles as opportunities to be leaders, who ensure their businesses are running smoothly by planning food and labor costs, scheduling current employees, as well as training new employees. They further their culinary careers by mixing it with entrepreneurship, knowing that their food and hospitality are vital in sustaining happy customers.

Within our Cavalier community, chefs have embodied their passions in handmade dishes in order to share a part of themselves in their meals. These chefs view food as an art form and a channel through which large groups can feel connected. Outside of the classroom, they draw inspiration from different cultures to create unique dishes for different food palates.

Whether it be through their own culinary creations or reviewing world-renowned platters, senior Sarahi Acosta and Italian teacher Melissa Chase have taken initiative to share their love for cooking and inspire others.

Melissa Chase

Courtesy of Melissa Chase

Inspired by her father’s love for the culinary arts, Melissa Chase draws on her own admiration of cooking to share recipes and review restaurants on a bigger platform. Chase, the school’s resident Italian teacher, grew up reluctant to help in the kitchen. However, with a little curiosity and a lot of motivation from her father, she was able to learn the tips and tricks her father gained working in Italian restaurants. In her house, food was the conduit through which the culturally and generationally diverse family could connect and find common ground through.

“I have very fond memories of cooking with my father, even though at the moment, I did not want to. My dad’s persistence paid off… [it was] a nice time that I cherish, ” Chase said.

Her journey as a food blogger began with posting pictures of meals from her kitchen and restaurants alike. Little by little, Chase began receiving questions on cooking techniques, restaurant recommendations and more. In an attempt to connect with a larger audience through food, she began a now archived blog named “The Foodie Teacher” where she shared different recipes and basic cooking techniques. Her passion for food was no longer restricted to her personal Instagram page on which she would share pictures of her food; instead of constantly being asked by friends to share recipes and restaurant recommendations, this new platform allowed her to personalize her own corner of the Internet and combine her Italian influences with her constantly growing gastronomical knowledge.

The blog quickly went from being a relatively personal, small-scale place for her to share with friends to a large platform that landed her on the guest list to A-List restaurant openings around Miami. In exchange for Michelin Star-worthy meals, she would review dishes and experiences on her increasingly popular Instagram and Blog page.

“My goal was always to show easy, simple recipes that were easy to make and good,” Chase said.

As a mother to a three-year-old son and expectant mother to a second baby in March 2021, she has since traded nights out at Miami’s top restaurants for nights in with home-cooked meals. Chase and her husband make time to connect through their love of cooking and trying new meals.

Despite having archived her blog and stopping the constant Instagram posting, food and the connections it brings still play a major role in her daily life. Her husband, another ‘foodie,’enjoys Asian food with the same passion with which Chase enjoys Italian food. Before having children, they took trips to their favorite culinary destinations around the world to bring their love for food to another level. Now, as parents, the couple makes a conscious effort to include their son, Luca, in the kitchen as they cook in hopes that they can also pass on the love for cooking they both share.

“You are going to make terrible [dishes], you are going to mess things up. But the wonderful thing about cooking is that there [are] infinite possibilities to try again,” Chase said.

While Chase has no plans to revive her blog anytime soon as motherhood and her responsibilities as a teacher take up most of her time, cooking has played and will continue to play a major role in her daily life.

Sarahi Acosta

Courtesy of Sarahi Acosta

A natural born chef, senior Sarahi Acosta will stop at nothing to reach her goal of sharing culinary traditions. For her, being in the kitchen always felt natural as she watched her mother and other adults cook around her.

Acosta has always felt connected to the art of cooking, even from a young age. Originally from the Dominican Republic, she uses cooking as a way to engage with and inspire others. Cooking has proved to be an effective way to stay in touch with her Dominican culture when she moved to the United States at the age of two and to remember her time in the states when she moved back to the Dominican Republic at the age of nine years old.

“I honestly think [Acosta] has a gift. Even if she hasn’t studied it, she has the gift of being a creative business woman,” Acosta’s mother, Arisleyda Valentin, said.

Not only did Acosta love the kitchen, but she also had an entrepreneurial spirit. As one of her earliest memories related to the kitchen, she notes making her own cupcakes to sell. Neighbors commended her initiative and she remembers feeling successful because she was able to share her creations with others.

Acosta first decided to start her own business selling food when she was 11. She tried to begin a business through which she could share her love for cooking and baking while simultaneously making profit.

While initially unsuccessful with her first two attempts, Acosta was determined to pursue her passions and begin her own small business. When she tried to sell Dominican dishes and desserts such as arroz con leche, Acosta found that customers valued convenience as they preferred to buy dishes from restaurants and bakeries they were already familiar with, forcing her to find a new style of food.

Nonetheless, her determination and passion led her to create her current business that uniquely fused Asian and Latin flavors: Melao Delicacies.

“I learned that determination is key and when you want something, fight for it. [I had] thousands of accounts and all of them failed and when I saw that this one was successful, I realized that all the failed ones led up to this,” Acosta said.

Inspired by Asian cuisine, Acosta began selling handmade dumplings through her Instagram page, @melao.delicacies. Aside from having traditional fillings such as shrimp and pork, she decided to embed some of her culture into her recipes by making dumplings with fillings such as guava and cheese and other latin flavors. “I want to have a place to have my products that I can be creative with, where I can sell everything I make, where it doesn’t have to be a set menu, where I have different things and offer new things to people,” Acosta said. For the 2020 holiday season, Acosta was able to bring in new creations such as carrot cakes, brownies and Dominican-style Meringues. In the future, she sees herself chasing her passions in the kitchen, one unique flavour at a time.

CHEF’S PICK

Pizza Margherita

Ingredients:

For pizza dough: • 1 1/2 c. hot water • 1 1/2 tsp. dry active yeast • 1 tbsp. olive oil • 1 tbsp. salt • 1 tbsp. sugar • 3 c. all-purpose flour • Oil for greasing the bowl

For the Margherita topping: • 4 cloves sliced garlic • 2 large ripe tomatoes • 3/4 c. grated mozzarella • 1/4 c. grated parmesan • 15 large fresh basil leaves

Preparation:

1. Make or buy your own pizza dough as the base of your pizza. 2. Prepare your toppings: Slice the tomatoes, mix together the parmesan and mozzarella and wash the basil. 3. To prepare for baking, preheat the oven to 500 °F. Roll out the dough and layer on the toppings. Bake on a pizza stone or a baking sheet.